Theros Primer #5: Red

Hi, i'm Beusapu and i'm gonna talk you about drafting the best color ever: RED.

Actually, i don't think it is the best color for Theros draft, which is tied between blue and green, but it has the bees removal and some good creatures.

The red emissary is a very good card. As a creature, he's a great target for auras.

As a bestow, he'll make one of the biggest threats in the table, and it requires too blockers every turn, which is a very high cost if the opponent doesn't want to take a bunch of damage.

The cost is a bit high (7 mana), but we're being able to give evasion to an already big creature (and with all the monstrosities, we should have some).

The ordeal is also very good. While we don't have a lot of heroic creatures, but this card offers a Lightnig Bolt stapled to a Giant Growth. It also works well with monstrosity.

But what makes red a really good choice is the removal. This set doesn't have a lot of removal, and most of it is slow and expensive. We have Lightning Strike and Magma Jet, two cheap and effective options. And we also have Rage of Purphoros, to deal with bigger creatures.

We also have really good commons. Ill-Tempered Cyclops has solid stats on its own (a 3/3 trampler for 4), but the monstrosity gives it the possibility to impact the board at any time of the game.

Portent of Betrayal is also a good common. This format is full of huge creatures such as monstrosities, and being able to steal them is much better than usual.

One of the things i like from red in this format is that red is a very splashable color. It works really well paired with blue or green, as it gives you something those colors lack: good removal.

 And finally, for those who want to go to the prerelease, our promo:

- Beusapu

Theros Primer #4: Black

 Since our prereleases are about done, with just one day left, this primer will be more about the drafting itself.

 Black, in it's essence, is primarily weak in Theros draft, with a sub-par emissary and a sub-par Ordeal, it being simply a mind rot, not very liked or played in most MXX drafts. However, it has a one-drop which shines in most aggro decks. Unfortunately for black, it isn't the most aggro color in Theros draft, white being far quicker with Wingsteed Rider.

 It's heroic is rather excellent, being a life swing of two. Problem is, black doesn't have much common support in the way of aggro, rather it being somewhat poor midrange. It has two decent removal, as well as one which isn't restricted, which shine since there IS so little removal in the format.

 Sip can be construed as a poor Hideous End, but it really is the best removal in the format, quite unluckily. Theros draft however, is a lot quicker than for this somewhat potent removal spell, and the game might be over by the time you can remove a creature. Sip is certainly playable, however, since Theros is quite the voltron format, and removing one large creature could be a massive tempo swing. And the two life could prove to be quite useful. Black also has a brilliant creature in Cavern Lampad, discussed in the Bestow primer. In my humble opinion, black is most useful as a splash and for it's removal.

Until next time, have fun drafting!

Cheers, Brick

Theros Primer #3: Blue

Contrary to my first belief, Theros draft seems to be a bit on the quicker side, however slower than GTC, which makes it a pretty fun format all round.

 Blue seems to be one of the strongest colors all around, having Thassa's Emissary, a Scroll Thief probably on steroids.

This card does a lot of work in draft, being rather large in blue, supported by a well-placed Griptide reprint, and Voyage's End, two of the most potent tempo/removal in Theros draft. Why I categorize them as removal is because of all the auras we seem to see, and these are hard counters to those cards. Blue also has a brilliant Ordeal, pictured below.

 This card, paired with any given heroic, does immense amounts of work. Blue is best usually paired with green, discussed later this week, hopefully. Blue also has possibly the most game-winning uncommon in this format, given you have enough mana, or end up in a stalemate.

 In this format, I recommend just one of these in your deck, at the very most. Any more and you clog your hand with costly unplayables, and are likely to be aggro'd out quickly. This card is a potential game winner, and knocks your opponent right out of the water, literally. Blue is usually best in support, despite it's extremely good common/uncommon base, since it doesn't have quick enough turn 3/ turn 4 plays which are quite important in this format. Turn 3 is where the crux of your game builds, in my opinion. Blue is certainly a color you want to at least splash in this format, being quite brilliant with good common removal, and decent uncommons that are sure to make your deck competitive.

Until next time, have fun drafting Theros!

Cheers,

Brick

Theros Primer #2: White

With the prerelease just next week and with all the 249 cards of Theros now revealed, I'll be discussing the colors one by one, and sharing my views on their playability and chase commons those colors entail.

 At the very beginning of the color pie, we have white, which has some relevant creatures at uncommon and rare, and the prerelease promo is just brilliant. A very versatile card, and it's bestow could be a blowout if the games go long as they look to be. Theros limited looks like a drawn-out and long limited, possibly lasting 14+ turns.

 White also has possibly the very best Ordeal, Ordeal of Heliod.

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 This card, once it reaches three +1/+1 counters, gives you a massive tempo swing, unmatched by any of the other Ordeals. Not only does it leave you with a creature with a permanent Giant Growth on it, it lets you outlast your opponent quite efficiently.

Another card that catches my eye in white is Heliod's Emissary, a Canyon Minotaur with an amazing upside.

 Not only is he an efficiently costed 3/3, he also has one of the most combat-positive abilities of the uncommon Emissary cycle, making your opponents unable to leave up good blockers.

 The problem with white in this format, is it's rather weak low end commons. It faces a similar dilemma to white in M14, with it's rares and uncommons quite brilliant, but with it's low end with much to be desired. This seems to be far more pronounced in Theros, with low-end creatures being outshone in every other color. The only commons I can see that might make any difference are the common heroic enablers, namely  Battlewise Valor and Gods Willing, as well as the most potent removal in the set, Divine Verdict. Setessan Griffin could prove to be worthwhile in WG decks, but not otherwise. Aside from these cards, white is quite weak. Since it's low end leaves much to be desired, steering clear of white as a central color is suggested, however it's still to be seen how it does in prerelease and in drafts to come. 

 Keep in mind that this is just an initial impression, and that I could be wrong. As always, have fun drafting!

Cheers, 

Brick

M14 Wrap-up

Many of you probably recognize my name from the card in Avacyn Restored. Or maybe you have ignored me on cockatrice because I am very narrow minded. I do intend to give advice in this forum so allow me to explain myself. First and foremost, I did not steal my name from mtg. During my years in middle and high school I acquired a nickname of being "The revenant" unlike most people I am loner by choice. My actions, my way of thinking in life, my problem solving methods. I do things my own way. I am not sucked into technological stuff like most. I prefer my phone to only make phone calls, not even text. I own 2 phones. One for calling people and one for texting. Neither phone has internet access. I own a psp that I use to play psp games on and I also own a Mp3 player for music. Yes I know that you can play mp3 files off a psp but I chose to not do this. I believe in one device one purpose ideal. My ps2 is not a dvd player. I have a dvd player for that. This style of thinking got my friend to call me a Revenant, I was a relic in their eyes. Still am. During Zendikar and Worldwake everyone got really hyped up on Jace TMS. Everyone except me. Mind you I love being blue and I love playing control. I am a drafter first. I never drafted a JTMS. I never lost to a JTMS in draft. The times it was drafted against me it literally just added time to the game. My opponents never won because of it. At this time I played some standard and I normally did very well at FNMs. At the FNMs I did not run JTMS I ran a home brew deck. Allot of people at my store Ran JTMS. Most of the top 8 every week had 4 in their decks. In our top eight we had a Maximum of 28 JTMS because I was always among them and I never ran the card. You may not believe this but that’s up to you. One of my friends said " You must be the Lone revenant of mtg, you are the only person who does not run JTMS and will not run it". The name stuck, and as far as I am concerned the day I do run JTMS is the day that I lose the name. It also fits cause I have a very weird draft style. Example. Here is a Draft pack of M14 (actually opened this) Nightmare, Sengir Vampire,Air servant,Volcanic Geyser, Chandra's outrage,Shock, Master of diversion, Pacifism, Coral Merfolk, Rumbling Baloth, Deadly recluse, Liturgy of Blood, Blood Bairn. Look at the pack, what would you first pick from that pack? This is a 8 man keeper draft at a Local store. I bet you had to think for a while cause of the sheer powerful cards in the pack. I would pick a card in a second without much thinking. I would pick Air servant. This is why. The only other blue card in the pack is the Coral merfolk. I'll table it no problem. The player on my right (who I feed) will probably dive into black, then the guy next to him into red or black, maybe white. the next guy same dilemma, the next guy same dilemma. No one is going into blue from this pack. There may be another blue drafter near me but he is at least 2-3 seats away unless he opened a huge blue bomb. Look at m14 how many blue Bombs can you not play and be ok with yourself? Most of them you can walk away from. So in pack 2 there is a very high probability that I will have the bomb blue passed to me. In fact as long as that rare is not a blue card, then I am still probably taking Air servant. He’ll change liturgy to a Doom Blade, still taking Air Servant. Based largely on my reasoning. Air Servant is not the best card in the pack, maybe 3-4th at best but Blue is going to be wide open, most likely. Ok, enough about me and my name.

Time for some draft advice. Warning I am narrow minded so you have permission to tell me to take my advice and shove it. I will list each color and my personal views on why you should or should not draft it. This is strictly from a Uncommon and common perspective. Rares and mythics I leave for you to figure out. M14 is a slow format, but very unforgiving. I have yet to see anyone get behind on board position and win. If you miss a mana and your opponent develops their board with a 2nd or 3rd guy even you are lost. They have to stumble several turns in a row just for you to fight, and then your board is improving while theirs is not. Mulligans are very hard here and I have won many games on the draw. The games will most likely go long, and that 8th card helps allot.

White: Personally I avoid white, mainly because the creature base is very weak. If a white based plan is not halted, and you are able to progress your board fine turn by turn then you can win with no problem, thing is if you cannot. White has the hardest time clogging the board so that you can try to catch up. Look at white's 2-4 area. That’s the area that I find very important. Your best guy at 2 is the 2/2 sliver. Sliver, that’s an archetype so people are going to be stealing him to splash in sliverish decks. After him what do you have at 2? Next best cards are flare and pacifism. Pacifism is not removal, it is partial removal. The creature is still there and can be sacked for many reasons. and they can disperse the pacifism in response to attacks to make awkward blocks. Also naturalize in sideboards can handle it. Flare is fine it is adequate removal. It can be played around effectively. Capashen knight, is a mana dump. I personally never like mana dumps. I never like Beetleform mage from DGR. It's a good guy mind you just there are times when you cannot swing mainly because you want to develop your board. So instead of swinging your 2/2 into their 2/1 where they may not block you have to just cast a guy and pass. I have won games by blocking just to make my opponent pump, and they get time walked basically because on my next turn i kill the dump and then they drop the guy they should have dropped and I drop 2 guys and now my board is much better than theirs. There are reasons to enter white. Serra’s Accord, pacifism, flare, both slivers, master of diversion. So go there knowing that your base will be weak.

Blue: Everyone and their mother says blue is the best color in m14. I love blue, but I disagree. Blue is very deep mind you with great cards. Both servants, Opportunity , divination, trained condor, Claustrophobia , the list goes on and on and on. Reasons not to blue are very slim, mainly because no matter where you are sitting there is a huge fight over blue cards. Blue fits into tempo, flyers, enchantment, control, and just plain goodstuff archetypes. Blue cards will most likely be the first ones to leave the packs.

Black: I think black is the best color. Mainly because of all the common based removal it has. Liturgy of blood is very good as it kills everything. There are only three creatures in the entire set that this spell does not kill. the 2 hexproof guys and fiendslayer paladin. So putting rares aside there is only one guy that this card misses. And, and, and it gives you 3 mana back to help you develop your board. that means 45% of time its a free kill spell and your board improves. I do not care if you use 2 of that mana for a child of night. you still did a 1 for 1.5 of a card here cause of the mana. Quag sickness hits the same amount of people, granted a quag on a Siege mastadon may not kill it on the spot, Quag normally kills its target on the spot. Festering newt, (i know its a guy) this guy single handly kills most of the 1-3 drop guys in the set. he either kills them cause of the low butt or he kills them with his ability. Thats 1 guy killing lots of different dudes. With the uncommons black gains even more kill with doomblade, corrupt, even shrivel can be extremely powerful. dead guys means you live longer.

Red: I think red and blue are tied for the second best color in the set, depending on your style. Reds creatures lack some punch that we are used to but their burn makes up for it. shock, outrage, flames, geyser, pitchburn. Thats allot of burn/removal not to mention the huge beating of Maulhorn at common. Thats Juggernaut at a common level?! Yeah it must attack every turn, its a 5/3 it will probably swing every turn happily. Use your burn to clear his path and your opponents will be mud before long. the 4/1 cat is the same thing basically except it can trade and make your opponents attacka weird with some pump or even thunderstrike people will hate you.

Green: This is where the beef is at, literally. 3/3 on 2 4/4 on 4 and a perfectly placed 2/3 that pumps them both. Not to forget the best green removal aside from prey upon. Enlarge is a huge beating that normally just wins the game. Opponent drops a sengir vampire and all you got is a brindle boar. Drop enlarge and that vampire has to chump block and dies to the boar, and they take 5 damage. thats a huge upswing in your favor. at 5 mana that card is amazing. You would think with enlarge that green would not get its normal growth card but it got Giant growth also, Hell it even got the 3/3 thats pumps a guy +2/+2.Thats three growth effects. all worth playing and all very good in this format.

Artifacts: I know this is not a color. but i want to mention two powerful artifacts. First is rod of ruin, this is a reprint obviously, but it gets better here. Lots of early game guys are /1 butt even some of the three drop guys die to rod. Factor in a festering newt or some combat and there are just times where your opponents cannot effectively attack or block without losing out on ground. When they can you just thump their skull at EOT. I have yet to be saddened by a rod in my main 23 (17 lands). The second card i want to mention is Bubbling Cauldron. A lot of people consider this a black card. Wrong, it fits all archetypes. 4 life is allot in a slow sluggish format. you can sac blockers to counteract life gain. you can sac things as they are targeted by certain kill spells to make them fizzle, chandra's outrage is a classic example here. During those sluggish turns you can just make tokens, several ways and toss them in the cauldron to make matters worse. The bad part about cauldron is once you have one, the second does next to nothing.

I hope my words helped you in some way. If I forgot any key cards feel free to tell me. I know that i spent little time explaining blue, there are too many reason to explain why blue is good here. It is not easy for me to say that black is better, but thats mainly because blue is so easily drafted that I rather not fight all day for cards. Until next time, "Draft greedy and win".

- Lone Revenant

Theros Primer #1: Bestow

With Theros so nearly upon us, I decided to touch on one of the three new mechanics we will be seeing in the new set, namely Bestow. Now, we can see quit clearly that they were meant for each other, something of a love story in the mechanics, but in limited, we must definitely keep in mind that our poor bestow creatures have quite overpriced Bestow costs. Now, it does still remain to be seen how fast or slow the limited format will turn out to be, but it might be important to keep in mind that the Bestow creatures need to do work on their own at least, to be good in your limited deck.

 Cavern Lampad here seems to be the best of the cycle of common bestow creatures, and intimidate is always a brilliant ability to have in a monocolored/bicolored set. Added to the fact that it grants intimidate to another creature given you get up to six mana (as the set seems to be geared towards slowness) it outclasses the rest of the cycle.

 Leafcrown Dryad takes number 2 by a very thin margin. Bears are always good in draft, getting your curve started early, or bringing in essential swings while your opponent gets set up, and this is no different. Added to that, it's a two mana bear with all upside, as it can be thrown under the bus against flyers in the late game, and it can bestow to pump your creatures if you draw it late. It is also the cheapest bestow cost in the entire cycle, and I imagine it would do work in Theros limited.

 Nimbus Naiad would share a spot with Leafcrown or take 3rd place in the Bestow cycle. A Wind Drake was always good filler in limited, with quite a decent upside in that it grants evasion and added power to another creature, essentially giving you two evasive creatures for 4U, if the enchanted one gets removed. Definitely a solid pick for blue players, and I think it would probably end up in most blue decks.


 Well, I hope we end up having fun in Theros limited. I wasn't able to update my blog because we recently shifted to a new house, and we don't have internet at the moment. I hope you can be patient with me, and I'll try to bring you new takes on M14 limited and Theros primers whenever I can. As always, have fun drafting!

Cheers,
Brick

The Hunt the Weak Archetype (a.k.a Bigger IS always better :D)

 This spell is the ONLY green removal spell in M14 draft, and is the best reference card for R/G beats, a deck with the most raw creature strength in the format. It's also the easiest deck to play, and I would recommend it for beginners to drafting quite strongly. The deck can be drafted with just commons and a couple of uncommons, and win against other deck types quite simply.

  In this deck type you want to see high power, high toughness creatures such as Rumbling Baloth, Marauding Maulhorn, Kalonian Tusker and so on, and you want to see copies of Chandra's Outrage and Hunt the Weak. Shock is also a decent card to finish off a creature post-combat. Advocate of the Beast reigns supreme in this deck type since it supports all the common and uncommon beasts in the format. Another card that's nearly a requirement for this deck is Elvish Mystic, since a turn 3 Marauding Maulhorn or a turn 2 Advocate can be quite backbreaking. Academy Raider is also quite nice to see as it cycles out your dead cards for (hopefully better ones) while swinging in for damage. Predatory and Battle Slivers are also good middle-pack picks for further damage.

Drafting the deck

 This is one of the easiest decks to understand in M14 draft, and drafting it is even easier. Your early picks should include Kalonian Tusker, Shiv's Embrace and Chandra's Outrages, and Kalonian Tusker is good enough to be your P1P1. Post your first three picks, you can start picking Advocate of the Beast, Marauding Maulhorn and Rumbling Baloths. Trollhide is also a great pick, and Deadly Recluse, known as the 'green Doom Blade' is another high-powered card to pick. Deadly Recluse and Trollhide are a devastating team
as well as Hunt the Weak and Deadly Recluse. Late picks include Plummet and Windstorm to take care of troublesome fliers, and Naturalize and Smelt for your sideboard. Shock and Outrage should be highly picked as well, but creatures more highly valued than burn, even Elvish Mystic. A reliable number of creatures in this deck type is the slightly-higher 18, and even 19 is acceptable. The reason 18 or 19 is a good creature count is because Elvish Mystic isn't really good for much other than bringing you to par/making you faster than your opponent. Ideally you will be in higher green than red, but a 50/50 split is acceptable.

Playing the deck

 Playing the deck is relatively easy as well, and a useful trick is to hold out on casting Advocate until you have at least one beast on the field, just for safety against targeted removal. Ideally you should always have bigger and better creatures than your opponent, and that's how you draft, sniping up big green/red baddies as outlined earlier. It's also a good idea to keep mana open for Trollhide, and hold back on Hunt the Weak as well until you see one of their bombs.

Opening hands and mulligans

 An ideal hand consists of at least 3 playable cards and 4 land, and up to two land hands are keepable, if you have an Elvish Mystic in hand. However, make sure NEVER to keep a one land hand just because you have Elvish Mystic against a red or black deck. This isn't advisable at all, since they are chock-full of removal, and you aren't guaranteed to hit your bigger creatures. Generally, anything less than two lands is a mulligan, as a rule of thumb.

 This deck is one of the most fun decks to play, and turning things sideways is always an enjoyable experience. With this deck, you should be able to outclass your opponents' creatures almost all the time, and hopefully you end up winning. As always, take care and have fun drafting!

Cheers,
Brick